1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to providing human language translations of user application text and in particular to xe2x80x9clocalizingxe2x80x9d the human language aspects of a user application. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to providing human language translation of user application text at run time.
2. Description of the Related Art
When applications are delivered to the marketplace, it would be desirable to have all languages which any customer might utilize supported for user interface dialogs, menu items, etc. That is, a given application should preferably be available in all of the various languages which are utilized by the customer base for that application (e.g., English, French, German, and the like). However, human language translations of the software user interface text are typically the last step to be performed and may result in the delay of product manufacture. Usually developers prefer to enter critical markets as soon as possible with a new product release, and the delay associated with preparing human language translations is unacceptable. Further complicating the problem are the costs associated with multiple mass-publication runs for storing the product on distributable media such as CD-ROMS. Generally a single run with all versions is preferred to multiple discrete production runs for each human language version of a product.
As a result, conventional practice currently involves release of the product without the full repertoire of human language versions, followed by subsequent upgrades or updates for specific languages. Currently, translations introduced after the product has been shipped are typically delivered as a patch rather than a component of the product. Furthermore, all desired languages must either be selected during installation of the software product on a particular system and then updated or added by reinstallation, or all languages must be loaded onto a system, taking up storage space even if never needed. The conventional mechanism for distributing human language translations of a software product also does not lend itself to changes to the language files after delivery for fixes, corrections, or updates.
Unfortunately, the cost of universal support for different dialog and user interface languages-both in monetary terms and in terms of time-to-market delays-is prohibitively expensive. A developer may not know whether certain human language versions (e.g., Russian, Chinese, etc.) will be necessary until long after the initial release date. Moreover, the market for xe2x80x9cfringexe2x80x9d languages (e.g., Serbian or Balinese) may not justify the expense of human language translation for the user application text.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a mechanism for providing after-market human language translation of user interface text dynamically at run time. It would further be advantageous if the mechanism provided support for a wide array of languages dynamically selected at run time and without the need for modification of the application.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a method, system, and computer program product for performing human language translations of user application text.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method, system, and computer program product for xe2x80x9clocalizingxe2x80x9d the human language aspects of a user application.
It is yet another object of the present invention to providing human language translation of user application text at run time.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. User interface text for dialog boxes, menus, and the like is xe2x80x9clocalizedxe2x80x9d with respect to human languages is achieved at run time by transmitting a translation request containing a text string to be translated, an identification of the source language, and an identification of the target language to a Web server providing text string translation services. The response from the Web server contains the translated text string, which is employed by the user application within the user interface. Text strings for all of the user interfaces of a particular user application may be translated in this fashion as a group at the time an unsupported human language is first requested, or text strings may simply be translated on-the-fly during operation of the underlying user application on an as-needed basis. The translated text strings may be preserved locally for future use, until a translation of the user interface text to the requested human language is provided by the user application developer. In a preferred embodiment, an extension of the Java ResourceBundles class is utilized to support run-time human language translation of user interface text. The new class, JILResourceBundle, obtains the translation of the user interface text strings when an unsupported language is requested, and may be inserted into a Java Application Resource file placed within the user""s classpath to avoid the necessity of rewriting the underlying user application in order to utilize the new class.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.